National

Business Wire

June 24, 1986

INTEREST RATES on short-term Treasury securities fell in Monday`s auction. The Treasury Department sold $7.4 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 6.09 percent, down from 6.11 percent last week. Another $7.4 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average discount rate of 6.13 percent, down from 6.18 percent last week. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors -- 6.27 percent for three-month bills and 6.41 percent for six-month bills. In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills was 6.61 percent last week, down from 6.85 percent the previous week. This rate is often used to set rates for homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages.

--AT&T`S LARGEST UNION moved to bolster morale among workers Monday, saying divisional contract disputes stalling a tentative national pact hurt the company more by pushing its nationwide strike into a fourth week. A spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of America said picket lines remained strong across the country and union members are prepared to stay off the job until ``very serious`` workplace issues were resolved by negotiators. About 155,000 employees walked out June 1 when the CWA`s three-year contract with American Telephone & Telegraph Co. expired. A new pact was tentatively accepted last week hinging on agreement in six sets of talks covering AT&T`s corporate divisions.

--SAN DIEGO AND NEW YORK businesses pay the most for their electricity, while rates in the Pacific Northwest are the cheapest, according to a survey of commercial electricity rates. San Diego Gas & Electric had the highest rates of 137 utilities, followed by two New York metropolitan-area utilities, the Long Island Lighting Co. and Consolidated Edison, according to a survey released Sunday by Energy User News, a weekly publication on energy-related issues. Overall, 62 utilities raised their electric prices between December 1984 and December 1985, while 63 lowered prices and 12 made no change.

--THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT on Monday accused TRW Inc. of Cleveland of overcharging the government for military parts and sent other allegations against the company to the Defense Department for further investigation. The government made its charge against TRW in an amended complaint to a civil lawsuit filed in April by three former TRW workers, who were fired in 1984 because of the alleged overcharging in two TRW divisions. The government earlier this month took over the suit. TRW said it had been cooperating with the government since disclosing in November 1984 what it called ``accounting irregularities.`` Company spokesman Michael Johnson said the company was prepared to make restitution.

--GENERAL MOTORS CORP. has shelved plans for a ``world van`` to be built in several countries including the United States, the Metalworking News edition of American Metal Market, a trade journal, reported. The GM world van at one time was scheduled for introduction in fall 1988 but was put off at least once before and now has been postponed indefinitely because GM`s U.S. and overseas operations failed to agree on a design, the journal said. GM`s current standard van assembly lines are in Lordstown, Ohio, and Scarborough, Ontario. Both are being considered for the next generation of those vehicles, the journal said.

--MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS: I.C.H. Corp., a Louisville insurance holding company, said it had signed a letter of intent to acquire all the insurance businesses of Tenneco Inc. of Houston for $1.5 billion in cash. The deal, if completed, would nearly double the size of I.C.H. The five companies that would be sold by Tenneco included Philadelphia Life Insurance Co., Philadelphia; Southwestern Life Insurance Co., Dallas; Philadelphia American Life Insurance Co., Houston; Southwestern General Life Insurance Co. and Security Life Insurance Co. of Georgia, both of Macon. ..... Reebok International Ltd. said it made an offer of $37 a share to acquire the Stride Rite Corp., but Cambridge-based Stride Rite rejected the offer and Reebok has dropped the matter for now. ..... In Hartford, Conn., Hartford National Corp. said it will acquire Charter Financial Corp., a Framingham, Mass. banking firm, and a subsidiary, Framingham Trust Co., the latest in a series of deals that would give the Hartford holding company 236 branches and $10 billion in assets.

--ELSEWHERE IN THE NATION: In Des Moines, Iowa, Hawkeye Bancorporation announced plans to sell 17 of its 36 banks and six other financial service companies to resolve a staggering debt load that threatened to topple the holding company.